


No Death. Only Pain.

by clockworksilence



Category: The Old Guard - Fandom
Genre: Multi, Short One Shot, this hurt people on tumblr so let's spread the angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:47:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29523855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clockworksilence/pseuds/clockworksilence
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	No Death. Only Pain.

It’s a topic that comes up every now and then when the Guard get back together: what death is the most painful?

If you live a hundred lifetimes, you die a hundred deaths. Sometimes thousands. Back in the day they used to be a lot more inventive, Andy would note, almost wistfully: when swords, blades or an arrow to the heart were almost pedestrian and far too immediate for someone really looking to make it theatre, there was always “ling chi” or something involving scorpions.

The consensus on hanging was primarily the morbid hilarity of watching the horrified expressions on the onlookers faces when they came back, though Andy and Booker both agreed that it was definitely up there in terms of most traumatic.

Being shot, while mostly instantaneous if done correctly, burns like Hades every time. Feeling your flesh being torn apart by red hot lead and coming to as your body knits back together is the oddest of sensations. But with more and more of their deaths seeming to involve firearms these days, it’s almost de rigeur. Something you get used to.

Lashings, stonings, being thrown from cliffs… The musing and debate would go on at some length but this was one subject upon which Joe was always reluctant to join in.

Because the deaths that hurt Joe the most are every single one of Nicky’s.


End file.
